Update: Downtown business targeted again – Kingston Police seek to identify female theft suspect

Update (Tuesday, Jul. 27, 2021)
Kingston Police have now confirmed that the incident involving a female stealing merchandise from a downtown store took place at a local retail store that was hit with a theft just days before.

Amanda’s House of Elegance, located at 70 Princess Street, was the subject of a theft on Tuesday, Jul. 13, 2021, as outlined below. That incident prompted Kingston Police to request public assistance to identify the female suspect involved in the theft. Just two days earlier, on Sunday, Jul. 11, 2021, the store experienced a similar theft, prompting Amanda Stewart, owner of Amanda’s House of Elegance, to take to social media expressing her plight.

“I honestly don’t know what to do. I’ve just sobbed. I’m already treading water – we all are,” Stewart said in an interview with Kingstonist, referring to the difficulties thefts during the COVID-19 pandemic have presented and the blow such thefts take on small businesses like hers, which was only recently able to reopen to the public again. Stewart said many issues regarding thefts have presented themselves during the pandemic, noting an obvious increase in thefts since the face covering mandates were implemented early on in the battle against COVID-19.

Anyone with information on the most recent theft, which has further compounded Stewart’s troubles during an already-difficult time for business owners, is asked to contact Kingston Police. See original article below for contact information.

Original article

Kingston Police have released the above photos obtained by store security cameras and are requesting public assistance to identify the female pictured, a suspect in a theft case at a downtown store.

According to police, the female entered a store on lower Princess Street at approximately 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Jul. 13, 2021. She proceeded to browse through the store for approximately half an hour, and was captured on video camera selecting merchandise and a scarf from the store’s shelves. Police say she tried the scarf on while still holding the unpaid-for merchandise, and proceeded to put the merchandise in the scarf, before putting the scarf into her bag. She then pulled the scarf out of her bag, leaving the other merchandise remaining in her bag, and left the store without paying.

The suspect is described as a Caucasian woman, 30 to 40 years of age, with short, dark hair. She has a distinctive tattoo on the middle of her back just below her neck. At the time of the theft, she was wearing a green baseball cap, a black spaghetti strap dress, and yellow flip-flops. She was also carrying a yellow and black striped bag with beige-coloured diamond designs on it.

Anyone with information in regards to the identity of this female suspect is asked to contact Const. Sarah Groenewegen via email at [email protected]. Tips can also be made anonymously by calling the Kingston Police general number (613-549-4660 ext. 0) and asking to remain anonymous.